


7) What's in a name

by Munnin



Series: Hugin Chronicles [7]
Category: Star Wars: Clone Wars (2003) - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-15
Updated: 2017-05-15
Packaged: 2018-11-01 02:20:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10912338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Munnin/pseuds/Munnin
Summary: Red Mist finally locate Tahl's new home. But Eva isn't backing down.





	7) What's in a name

**Author's Note:**

> Based on characters created by Joe Hogan for the [ The Siren of Dathomir](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3z0kyf53Ds) and [ Panic Over Muunilinst ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3-_EnhMEDE).
> 
> Stolen, run away with, and abused with his permission.

Eva was glad Rebec and Tahl were away when she got the call the ship she was expecting had landed. Silvestri VII wasn’t exactly a small trading port, more like a small city, but people knew each other, watched out for each other. When she asked the guys at the docks to keep an eye out, she knew they’d give her all the warning they could. 

After a week of coaxing, Eva and Tahl between them managed to talk Rebec into replacing her lost paints. She still had her studio set but she’d lost a lot of her best equipment and colours when she’d had to drop her case. It would cost them all they’d both made on the trip to Malastare to replace everything Rebec had lost, but Eva didn’t begrudge her that. Rebec mixed her own paints, building up palettes of colour from imported pigments. It wasn’t cheap but it was part of why Rebec was making a name for herself in the trade. 

And Rebec was most alive when she was surrounded by colour, lost in her own world of shades and tones. 

Which was why Eva had chased the pair of them out of the house and sent them off the Silvestri Prime to shop for new gear. 

Anything to see Rebec smile again. 

And to get Tahl out of harm’s way.

She closed everything up, shutting the shop down for the day and strapped on her holster. She hoped she wouldn’t need her pistol. She was good but she doubted she’d stand a chance against Republic troops. Either way, she wanted them to know she wouldn’t be pushed around. 

***

Fordo kept to the back of the group as they headed towards the shop on the edge of the trading port’s main shopping district. Gleeb and Ridley had dropped an hour earlier, scouting ahead and reporting details of the location. The port may have been developed but the moon itself was quite wild. A subtropical world, humid and heavily wooded outside the cleared areas. They had no reason to expect attack or resistance here but their solder’s training still eyed the mountainous terrain around the edges of the settlement with wary consideration. 

He’d selected Jat, Linc and Fernie for this mission. The cooler heads of the squad. The peace-keepers. Crispy led, of course. It could be no other way. 

Crispy needed this. He needed to know. 

The whole incident, from Kamino to here had rattled his lieutenant, turning the steadiest trooper Fordo had ever known hot-headed and emotional. That had to end. They all needed resolution, of some sort, but Crispy needed answers. 

He listened to the sounds being relayed to his helmet – the footfalls of the four troopers in front of him, the soft static of the open line to their ship, the muted breathing of his recon team. 

Eva Rus was waiting for them outside her shop, as though she had expected them. As well she might. 

“He’s not here.” She announced, hands on her hips. The pistol riding her thigh wasn’t prominent, her hand making no move for the grip but she made a point of not hiding it. “You might as well go back where you came from.” 

“Ma’am, we’re here for trooper CT-3050.” Crispy started, sounding crisp and formal. “He was identified in your company on Malastare.”

“I’m not denying it.” She didn’t budge an inch, looking like she was carved from the local granite. “But he’s not here. So you can leave now.” 

“Ma’am, CT-3050 was reported missing in action over one standard year ago. We’re here to retrieve-” 

“No, you’re not.” She cut Crispy off. 

Fordo could hear the edge of frustration in Crispy’s voice. “Ma’am, CT-3050 is-”

“So he’s just a number, is he? He has a name, you know.” She interrupted, head slightly cocked. “Or do you not care about that?” 

“Ma’am-”

“Ma’am me again, son. And we’re going to have a problem.” Eva Rus took a step forward, hands still on her hips. And Fordo was very glad of the team he had selected. She might have been only as tall as the bottom edges of their shoulder bells but she moved with the certainty of a boulder. “Let me say this again, seeing you’re clearly not hearing me. He ain’t here. You’re not taking him anywhere.” 

“Ma’am- Ms Rus.”

“Better.” She nodded. “Keep talking, I want to see how many times I have to say it to get through your skull.”

Crispy cleared his throat, his temper rising and keeping his voice steady at great effort. “Ms Rus, CT-3050 was reported MIA over a standard year ago. He was seen in your company on Malastare. We’ve come to take him back where he belongs.”

“Where he belongs.” She echoes, smiling the sort of smile that should have been a warning. “So what is your plan? Dust him off, stick him back in one of those suits of armour and what? Throw him back at the Separatist as blaster fodder? Or are you here to drag him back and shoot him as a deserter?” She took another step forward, inside Crispy’s personal space. “I don’t think so. I don’t give a mynock’s fart what you think he is. He’s not a commodity. And he’s not a slave.” She gave him another sharp smile. “And he. Is. Not. Here. Now scam!”

She turned on one heel, striding away as Crispy snapped. “Then where is he?” He advanced on her, causing the others to tense. “And what right do you have to keep him from us!”

She wheeled around, hand on the pistol’s butt. “What right do I have?” She hadn’t drawn but the threat she would was real enough. “The right of someone who cares who he is. Not what he’s _worth_ to the Republic war machine. I’ve seen what you do. My sister nearly died on Malastare because of what you did. You’ll take him against his will over my dead body.” 

It hadn’t occurred to Crispy till that moment that returning to the squad might be against Hugin’s will. He hesitated, shocked into silence. 

The ship’s line crackled to life in Frodo’s helmet. Skate’s voice was tight and concerned. “Captain, we have an urgent message from General Kenobi. We’re to fall out and re-join the fleet immediately. Code red, top priority.”

“Acknowledged.” Fordo closed the line and addressed the others. “Red Mist, back to the ship, double time.” He heard Crispy’s teeth clench, the others already in motion. “That’s an order, trooper.” He didn’t need to see the look on his lieutenant’s face to know it was mutinous. 

As the others double-timed back to the ship, Fordo give Eva one last look. “His name is Hugin. And he is a member of this squad.” Without another glance, he took off towards the others.


End file.
